The present invention relates to door locks, and more particularly to locks for safes and the like having a movable bolt for engagement with a door latch mechanism to lock the door, and for disengagement from the door latch mechanism to unlock the door.
Bolt-type door locks are, per se, known. The following U.S. Patents are illustrative of such heretofore known locks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,445 issued to Scott M. Beatty on Dec. 19, 1989 shows a lock for a safe door. The lock includes a bolt slidably mounted in a guide block of the lock for movement into and out of a bolt-receiving opening in the adjacent door jamb. The bolt is movable in a direction perpendicular to the adjacent door jamb into the bolt-receiving opening to lock the door and out of the bolt-receiving opening to unlock the door. The bolt is moved by an electric motor into and out of the locked position through a rocker arm, drive cam and drive panel arrangement which provides a slip clutch protecting the lock mechanism from damage in the event the bolt becomes jammed in the bolt-receiving opening in the door jamb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,886 issued to Karl Kletzmaier et al on Jan. 14, 1986 shows a lock for securing a safe door which includes a bolt slidably mounted for movement into and out of a bolt-receiving opening in the adjacent door jamb. The bolt is movable in a direction perpendicular to the adjacent door jamb into the bolt-receiving opening to lock the door, and out of the bolt-receiving opening to unlock the door. The bolt is moved by a handle device into and out of the bolt-receiving opening in the adjacent door jamb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,984 issued to K. W. Gartner et al on Feb. 27, 1990 shows a lock for a safe door which includes a locking bolt which is rotatably mounted in a housing for movement into and out of a bolt-receiving opening in an adjacent door jamb or the like. The bolt is movable in a direction perpendicular to the door jamb. The bolt is moved into and out of the bolt-receiving opening by a bolt lever pivotably connected at one end to the bolt and engaged at the other end to a cam wheel such that when the cam wheel is rotated the lever push or pulls the bolt lever thereby moving the bolt. A solenoid located in the housing has its operating rod positioned to interfere with the bolt lever when extended to prevent movement of the bolt lever, and therefore to prevent movement of the bolt, and when the operating rod is retracted, will allow movement of the bolt lever, and therefore will allow movement of the bolt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,664 issued to K. W. Gartner et al on May 22, 1990 shows a self-locking electronic lock for a safe door. The electronic lock is used with a door locking bolt works which includes a vertical link with door bolts attached thereto. The vertical link is connected to a handle through gears to move the bolt link in an arcuate path moving the door bolts forward and into openings in the adjacent door jamb to lock the door and away and out of the openings in the adjacent door jamb to unlock the door. The bolt link is formed with a square notch in one longitudinal side and the electronic lock is positioned adjacent the notch in the bolt link. The electronic lock has a lock bolt slidably mounting in the electronic lock housing, and is located with the lock bolt in alignment with the square notch in the bolt link for movement perpendicular to the bolt link into and out of the square notch in the bolt link. The electronic lock includes a small electric motor having a threaded output shaft. The bolt is formed with a threaded bore receiving the threaded electric motor output shaft. The motor is activated to rotate in one direction to retract the lock bolt to move the lock bolt from the square notch in the link, and activated to rotate in the opposite direction to move the lock bolt back into the square notch in the link.
The heretofore known locks are necessarily such a construction which requires them to be asymmetrical and, therefore, these prior-art locks must be manufactured in left and right verions.
The above-discussed safe door locks are relatively complicated and, therefore, expensive to manufacture.